2020-21 Review

Athletics Department

2020-21 NCCU Athletics Highlights

Department of Athletics
  • The Department of Athletics established a Leadership Academy that is open to all student-athletes with a directive to provide emerging student leaders with the opportunity to develop the technical and practical skills necessary for leadership on their teams, campus community, and beyond.
  • More than 160 student-athletes participated in the NCCU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's "Black Lives Matter March to the Polls" event.
  • The Department of Athletics announced Michelle McLeod as part of the inaugural class of the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative by virtue of her appointment to the MLI Future Leader position at NCCU.
  • Two valedictorians, Maru Berghaus of women's tennis and Hollan Strepay of men's golf and track & field with perfect 4.0 GPAs, were among the 43 student-athletes to earn their degrees on May 8.
 
Volleyball
  • Ammaarah Williams becomes the first Eagle to earn First Team All-MEAC volleyball honors since 2012.
 
Football
  • Football student-athlete Jessie Malit named the national winner of the STATS Perform FCS Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award and selected as one of the 2021-22 Newman Civic Fellows.
  • Defensive back Stephen Stokes was one of only 22 college football players in the nation to earn distinguished recognition as a member of the 2020 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, announced by Allstate and the American Football Coaches Association. Stokes was featured during halftime of the national TV broadcast of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which averaged more than 19 million viewers.
  • Football signed an agreement to play UCLA inside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Sept. 16, 2023.
  • Senior defensive back Bryan Mills earned an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine; played in the Reese's Senior Bowl, the nation's most prestigious college all-star game; and signed an NFL contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
  • Ryan Smith became NCCU's first Super Bowl champion when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9. NCCU alum Nick Leverett also celebrated the Super Bowl triumph as a member of the Bucs practice squad.
  • Longtime rivals NCCU and NC A&T signed a 10-year football schedule agreement to ensure the Eagles and Aggies will clash on the gridiron each season from 2021 through 2030.
 
Men's Basketball
  • NCCU men's basketball program featured in eight-episode docuseries on ESPN+.
  • Ten NCCU men's basketball games shown live on ESPN networks (7 ESPN+, 2 ESPNU, 1 ESPN2).
  • Men's basketball senior C.J. Keyser named First Team All-MEAC.
  • Jibri Blount, the 2020 MEAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year, signed an NFL contract with the Miami Dolphins.
 
Women's Basketball
  • Women's basketball sophomore Anissa Rivera voted MEAC Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-MEAC.
 
Baseball
  • On May 7 versus Delaware State, Austin Vernon threw the first no-hitter in the modern era of NCCU baseball.
  • Baseball won the MEAC Southern Division title and advanced to the MEAC Championship Game for the first time in the modern era of the program.
  • A baseball program-record 10 Eagles earned All-MEAC selections, including Ryan Miller as MEAC Pitcher of the Year, Chet Sikes as MEAC Rookie of the Year and Jim Koerner as MEAC Coach of the Year.
  • Pitcher Ryan Miller earned All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) to become the first Eagle to be named a postseason All-American in program history.
  • Pitcher Austin Vernon was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 10th round of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft on July 12.
 
Softball
  • Softball team ended a 14-game losing skid to Florida A&M (dating back to April 2015), by winning three out of four games in Florida.
  • Softball advanced to the MEAC Championship Game for the first time.
 
Track & Field
  • Track & field senior Marvin Jones won a gold medal as the conference champion in the men's high jump during the MEAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
  • Track & field seniors Earl Green (400-meter hurdles) and Marvin Jones (high jump) qualify to compete in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field East Preliminary Championships in Jacksonville, Florida.
  • Senior Earl Green broke NCCU's Division I record in the men's 400-meter hurdles during the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field East Preliminary Championships on May 26 at the University of North Florida, posting a personal-best time of 50.58 seconds, the fastest by an Eagle since NCCU reclassified to Division I in 2011.
 
Tennis
  • Men's tennis freshman Stipan Madzar was voted as the 2021 MEAC Men's Tennis Rookie of the Year and received First Team All-MEAC recognition.
 
Golf
  • Jameshia Levister announced as the assistant golf coach at NCCU, a position established through a Tara VanDerveer Fund for the Advancement of Women in Coaching grant from the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF).
  • Sophomore golfer Daniel Barbare shot four-over-par in the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship to finish in third place at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. His third-place performance is the best finish for an NCCU Eagle at the PGA event as a Division I competitor, dating back to 2009.
 
(No sports played in Fall 2020 due to COVID-19)



 
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